Half vs Full? – 2015 Goals

I go back and forth about doing a full marathon in 2015. Sometimes I think, Hell yeah! I didn’t do all this training for nuthin! But another part of me (with heavy influence from my race buddy) says to drop back a bit and make myself a stronger competitor from the base up. And I don’t think I’m just leaning that way because I’m currently exhausted from marathon training for Walt Disney Marathon in January. I think I’m just a bit burnt out from the long run training in general.

My run team buddy wants me to train with her for her May marathon. I’m happy to do it. That is, I’m happy to run anything 20 miles and under. And really she’ll probably only do that once or twice right? No big deal. It’s a great time to be running that much because it’s right before summer. But mainly we’ll be running from 12-18 miles for our long runs and maybe 30-40 miles for our weekly mileage. I think that would be a great setup for PR-in in the half for me. It is not gonna be easy for me to PR because, before having kids, my half time was… well it was basically low 8 mile pace. That’s not amazing or anything to a lot of runners out there, I know! But to me, low 8’s seem absolutely impossible right now. I haven’t been near that in all my races since having kids. Not even close. So, if I’m honest with myself, I would kind of like the challenge of tackling that record.

Also, this “run with marathoners but train for the half” plan I’m thinking about, it would set me up for my other 2015 goal (I’ll write more about those later) of adding a lot more weekly miles than I currently run. Let me tell you, upping your weekly mileage has great benefits. Sure, it’s a pain to get those miles in when you have work and school and kids and a family. But the benefit is you get to eat more and still not look too bad. Yes, I’m one of those people who equates miles run with food I get to eat. Hey, I equate it to other things too! But food is up in the Top 3.

Four Deserts

Lastly, I just don’t have the enthusiasm to do a destination race this coming year. I don’t feel I have it in me for the marathon. I can’t really explain this one except to say it’s a type of burnout. I’m not excited about the idea of any particular marathon right now, and I spent an hour the other day researching all the different ones I could do. Even Chicago isn’t exciting to me like it once was. This could all change but right now I’m not up for it. And lottos start soon so unless I’m up for it before March, this will be pretty final soon here.

But breaking my PR in the half? That excites me! Maybe because, just like the MCM seemed to me last year, it seems impossible. And the impossible excites me. Now, I’m not signing up for the Four Deserts Challenge because I’m some sort of adrenaline/Everest junkie (btw, I watched the documentary on that and it was insane! I am convinced that some of those people have a true death wish). I just know I need something crazy to get me out there when I’m so exhausted from school and kids. And “another marathon” isn’t really going to cut it. Blowing away my PR? Yeah, that might do it. Plus, and this is a huge benefit too, it’s just so much easier to get in 12 mile weekend runs or fast 10k tempo runs than all the “take it super slow” long runs for the marathon. And, no, I’m not ready to run a marathon for speed yet.

Right now my race buddy and I (different from my run team buddy) are talking about maybe a spring 2016 marathon? It sounds like that’s something we could work out. Miami for the full maybe? Tallahassee full? That’s another thing. Living in south Florida makes my options difficult for marathons and that’s why I have to ask myself if I want to do a destination race because outside of soflo, everything is a “destination” for me. Florida is no small state after all. But they do have a nice January/February marathon lineup, unlike everywhere else. So it works perfectly for my early 2016 plan. And I think that’s how it will be. January 2015 for Disney limpwalk marathon and then either Miami or Tallahassee for the 2016 full. That sounds about right.

What do you all use to decide which race you do? Is it money? Distance? Location?